Spider-Man and the Morning Star
by Mezazra
Summary: New York is in the middle of a gang war that's tearing the streets apart. The Avengers have split and the Defenders are spread thin. Still New York could persevere. And then Spider-Man announces his retirement. 5 Years later he meets Lucifer as in the Fallen Angel. Just what could the founder of Evil want with a retired Spider-Man. Is it more Parker luck or something else entirely.
1. Spider-Man retired?

**(Insert Take what you want by Post Malone)**

Peter didn't know how it happened. He wasn't really sure of the situation if he's gonna be honest. One minute he was your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, the next he had quit. The city of New York and especially 3J made it exceptionally clear he wasn't wanted. They made it Crystal lake clear that they preferred their new lethal protectors over the friendly neighbor. Couple that with the absolute shit storm that was Peter's life at the moment and Peter decided fuck it.

His usually reliable Aunt was gone usually out of the state more often than not. Peter couldn't keep a steady job worth a damn. His rent was significantly overdue. His recently ex-ified girlfriend ended up getting a job that catapulted her well out of his league as a Broadway singer/Supermodel. Cue his best friend Harry (and her fellow red head) and bam. He's getting dumped so his ex can start dating his former best friend.

Oh but good old Parker luck has to add on to the pile of bile that is Peter Parker's life. New York is in the middle of an explosive gang war that the city blames him for. Why? Because it needs a fucking scapegoat. What other fucking reason would be appropriate? The Big Man, Kingpin, Ock, Mr. Negative, and Silvermane backed by the Maggia are all at war with each other and so far it's been a giant stalemate. Oh but we're not nearly done with the chaos.

The Avengers are split up over leadership issues with the entire team rarely being forced together. Additionally they mainly believe that the gang problems should be handled by the local police. Especially T'Challa and Namor who think of their countries first. (However even Captain America agreed.) All this despite the fact that the gangs are being led by Super villains. The Avengers seem under the impression that the "street heroes" can handle it.

If that we're not enough Peter is still reeling from finding out his black symbiote Vee, that he's been wearing for years, has up and decided to bond with his former friend Eddie Brock and his wife Anne Weying in an attempt to completely replace him as NYC's hero. To be fair when Peter found out it was using his body in his sleep to eat people he dumped it first. Although he did hear from Vee that if it didn't eat brain matter from outside sources it would have to feed on Peter instead. Something it refused to do. Kind of touching if not for the whole eating people thing.

As mentioned above the new red and black web (well ooze) swingers are well liked by the city so far. So much so that Peter actually felt pressured to just stop being Spidey. Still as stated before New York is in a gang war with criminals and civilians alike dying left and right. As far as Peter was concerned the more help the better. Although he was still concerned that Vee was eating Eddie's brain. Or would one day attempt to do so. True to his upbringing Peter had decided to warn him. That was when he got a wake up call. Eddie and his wife would occasionally kill the criminals they went after. That's what the public found out. What they didn't know was that Eddie and his wife had both gone full on cannibalistic. Regardless the city felt it was a good thing the new duo were killing criminals and basic goons. It should also be pointed out that many of them are also the same people who condemned Frank Castle for doing the exact same thing. Especially 3J who used to spread anti Punisher news in his media outlets.

Peter obviously found out about the cannibalism but what could he do. His whole super powered life he depended on his trusty spider sense for nearly everything. Vee was immune to it since he and her were bonded for so long. (Canon) So until Eddie and his wife started killing innocents Peter decided to leave the pair to their own devices. He figured if he could turn a blind eye to the Punisher he could do the same for them. It didn't help that they stalked him though. Or that he had no idea on how to beat them. Peter figured he'd cross that bridge if and when he got to it.

But the pressures kept piling on. Peter was no longer considered a friend of the X-Men. They were currently in a good place. They had an independent mutant nation and everything. The group didn't want his current bad publicity rubbing off on them. Pete could obviously understand their perspective. So at their request he kept his distance from them and their mutant problems.

The Inhumans only take care of their own so he knew he couldn't turn to them for any kind of support despite his friendship to many of their members. And even the Fantastic Four were no longer talking to him. They accused him of stealing something from them and they apparently had video proof. Peter didn't have any memory of the event. Most likely it was something done while Vee was in control during his sleep. So even they were off the table.

Daredevil was far too busy with Luke Cage and the rest of the defenders being the front lines against the villains in this gang war. Even so he did make time to play Peter's therapist from time to time. It didn't matter to them rather one was Catholic and the other Protestant. They were both good men trying to do good in the world with their gifts. Still Matt Murdock's time was previous. Peter rarely wanted to bother him with his complaints.

Black Cat wanted to gut Peter's stomach like a fish and stare at his insides. Probably before pouring gasoline on it and striking a match so she could watch even that burn. To say Peter and Felicia weren't on speaking terms is likely the universe's greatest understatement. A sad ending to their relationship considering they used to claim love for one another. But then again their relationship was built on the mutual using of each other. Sadly Peter was actually the more deceptive of the pair.

Felicia was the one who saved Gwen Stacy's life on a certain bridge. Still Gwen found out Peter was Spider-Man and never told her... he was promptly dumped. Currently she was dating a handsome nerd named Paul. She and Peter had only recently gotten back to speaking terms.

The only other people Peter could turn to were his highschool friend Liz Allan (who Peter hadn't seen in years) and his college friend Angelica Jones (who Peter hadn't seen in months). The main reason for the latter being missing is that she married the former and moved with her to Europe. Weird that the two Firestars would marry each other out of all things. But Liz did have that baby by Harry. To Peter that just made Angelica's decision all the more interesting. Even more interesting was that Liz hadn't bothered to look into Peter's whereabouts at all while she was in New York. He had the sneaking suspicion she didn't like him anymore despite their long friendship.

Finally, cuz we're saving the best for last, Peter's sister Teresa was in prison. She volunteered to be locked up in a SHIELD maximum security prison because of the nanite army living inside her. This particular army perfectly recorded the weaknesses of every powered individual that ever walked the Earth. Heroes and villains alike.(Canon) Famously excluding Spider-Man, since no one knows how to actually weaken him.

Peter made the decision to quit being Spider-Man after some serious soul searching. He spent hours talking to his favorite gargoyle Bruce. (canon) Basically arguing with himself. Eventually Peter came to the conclusion that the root problem to nearly everything he was currently dealing with was the existence of Spider-Man and so Peter put one of his spare costumes in the trash. He was Spider-Man no more. He did a spare costume because obviously he couldn't do the one he was wearing at that exact moment. However when he got to his shit apartment Peter curiously didn't bother throwing away any of his other costumes.

It's not what you're probably thinking. He didn't throw them away because he was subconsciously thinking of returning. No nothing like that. The reason he didn't get rid of any of his other costumes is for far more practical purposes. The costumes he still had were far more expensive then the pure cotton mesh hybrid one he threw in the trash. He made the remaining costumes in labs belonging to the Avengers, Horizon Labs, Fantastic Four, Stark Industries, ESU, and the X-Men. To put it simply millions of dollars went into some of those costumes using experimental tech. Getting rid of those would be the height of foolishness. The effect was the same. Peter bowed out of the hero game and he had no intention of returning. Peter decided to focus on Peter Parker. He decided to get his life back on track.

**(Insert Staring at the sun-Post Malone ft SZA)**

Peculiar sights started to pop up in Peter's life. For instance Peter went to a bank. Suddenly it began to be robbed. So you're expecting Mr. Responsibility to hop up and do something about it right. Wrong! Not only did he do nothing he was the guy that was forced to hold the bag containing stolen goods for them. Don't worry though the defender Luke Cage showed up and put a stop to the robbery. You can probably imagine his surprise when he saw Peter in the crowd of civilians. He almost went to strike a conversation with Peter. However Peter just blew past him and went on about his day. That night Luke and Jessica stayed up extra late hoping for a chance to talk to him about what was up. But he never showed up on their radar.

Another instance there was a fire. Peter could actually hear screaming. Clearly people's lives were at stake. In the end Peter did nothing. Even turning his back to the scene as he hailed a taxi to try to get to his destination. Never once did he think about how Spider-Man could make the situation better.

Next and probably the most blatant act of hatred for his life was when he saw the villain Rhino downtown. Peter had been selling his cellphone for some extra cash at a pawn shop when he felt his spider sense going ballistic. He warned his fellow patrons and that's when he discovered that Rhino had recently been in a fight with Mr. Negative. He was currently fleeing from police in the after math. The cops had Rhino blockaded off. There was just one tiny problem. Usually this was where a super (usually Spider-Man) would show up and deal with Rhino. Today was different. The cops were feeling first hand how hopelessly and hilariously outgunned they were. They finally understood the notion that they could deal with the monsters, demons, aliens, and super criminals that the heroes usually did was the mindset of the insane and imbecilic.

Right now they just hoped that Spider-Man would come in and mop up Rhino like he usually does. They were in for a massive disappointment. In the end no hero showed. Especially Spider-Man. In trying to keep Rhino contained many officers lost their lives. In fact over fifty percent of Manhattan's law enforcement officers present perished to Aleksei's hand. In all that time neither the Fantastic Four, Defenders, or the Avengers bothered to show up.

After Rhino broke the blockade to escape the officers began to pack up their equipment and count the damage. You can imagine the somber mood that settled over them all. In the middle of all this four important officers noticed Peter Parker at the same time. Police Captains Dewolf, Watanabe, and Stacy in addition to Detective Terri Lee. Coincidentally newsreporter Whitney Chang had been covering the event for the Fact channel and she too noticed Peter out of the crowd.

Now to just get one point out of the way right now. Only one of these officers took note of Peter because they knew his identity as Spider-Man and that was George Stacy. It isn't exactly uncommon knowledge that only one person could reliably get photos of Spider-Man in his early years and that was Peter Parker. Most people believed the hero took pity on the impoverished photographer and allowed him to earn easy money by photographing himself. On top of that most people believed that Peter Parker knew of some way to contact the hero. Especially since he can be often seen speaking on the hero's behalf. To the criminal network Peter Parker was akin to Spidey's spokesman. Due to his severe financial status most supervillains decided there was no value in targeting Peter to get to Spider-Man. Kind of sad really. Peter was considered too insignificant for criminals to waste money, time, resources, and life energy on assassinating.

It was Yuriko Watanabe who managed to catch up to Peter first.

"Yo Parker what the deal? I thought Spider-Man would have shown!? We lost a lot of lives due to his ineptitude. Seriously can you get in touch with him? We need to talk about this."

Peter made to speak but he was interrupted by George Stacy. Now Peter knew George was in on his secret identity. So what he had to say carried slightly more weight than Yuri's word.

"Yeah I'd like to know what Spider-Man was doing during all this. Too many lost their lives today Parker. I hope he (you) have a good explanation for this."

Peter turned to see if Jean or Terri had anything to say. They indicated that they didn't. So he turned to Whitney who had finally decided to add her piece.

"I'd like to ask can anything you say be quoted? That is to say has Spidey told you what's been happening with him lately?"

After that Peter got this contemplative look on his face. Then he spoke.

"It is your job to protect and serve right? To lay down your lives for the people of this city. For the innocent."

"Of course it is." George said getting a sinking feeling.

"When Spidey first showed up every person here except Whitney believed he should let the police handle things. Or that he should be unmasked. Oh then there was the idea of getting him on the police payroll. Again unmasked. All of you have had your criticisms about Spider-Man. Some of you have had your opinions change over time. But at your heart of hearts you all still believe that a hero like Spider-Man does more harm than good.

Ineptitude? Really? I think this little suaree just now kind of proves the police of this city are the ones unskilled. But hey you guys have always wanted to prove to the public that you can handle any one of the bad guys Spider-Man deals with.

Well recently Spidey has agreed. He feels this city would be much safer without him in it. He feels that the NYPD is more than equipped to handle any situation. He feels that the local officers of the law will be able to get to the truth of any matter such as the identity of the Big Man and the Kingpin. So officers you're all getting your wish. Spidey is gone and I seriously doubt if he's ever coming back.

I'm sure you've all had near death experiences. You're all willing to lay down your lives for this city. Well Spidey has layed down his life twice now. No wait now that I'm thinking about it... It has actually been four times. He's not planning on dying for this ungrateful city again. He's going to take his last life and live it for himself. He said specifically to say this to the people of New York."

At this moment Peter turned his full attention to Whitney Chang.

"Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it." With that Peter turned and left the officers to stare at each other. They were now officially in a world without Spider-Man. Looking around themselves at the devastation Rhino alone caused they realized the world just got a whole lot scarier because of it.

George Stacy was the one hit the hardest. If Spider-Man... If Peter was retiring what would New York look like in the coming weeks. But more importantly than that Peter had died. Four times so far. With tales of heroes and villains dying and coming back to life trickling out there George didn't doubt it was possible. What he was wondering was when? When did Spider-Man... When did Peter die? It had to be after he and Gwen broke up. If that was the case then Peter experienced actual death while he was just a college student. On top of that he'd have experienced it four times now. Just the thought of that scared George more than he thought it would. He at best did not like the idea of Spider-Man but after hearing the full story about what happened the day Uncle Ben passed from Peter... Let's just say George could understand where Peter was coming from after that. Still if that we're not enough his near death at the hands of Doc Ock and the Lizard certainly drove the point home. Heroes like Spider-Man were necessary.

George knew Peter not to be a liar. He kept his secrets sure. And even those were for the right reasons. But a secret wasn't a lie. So if Peter was saying he died four times. Well that probably meant he died four times. And if Peter decided he wasn't going to risk death without the guarantee he would return again... Well George certainly wasn't going to blame him any.

"Do you think it's true? Do you think Spider-Man really has quit?" Jean asked.

"I don't want to believe it. I mean Spidey has always seemed like such a morally righteous dude. I just don't think he'd just up and quit one day because the city's turned on him. They've done it before and he kept on saving lives. Rather people liked him or not he's always done the right thing." Detective Lee responded.

"Yeah. The nerve of that kid. He spoke like he was Spider-Man. Like we were all a bunch of ungrateful brats." Yuri's tone was angry at first but her next words added a hint of sadness to them. "I know when Spider-Man and I worked together I made sure to thank him for all his hard work. I've seen first hand how dangerous it could be for him. I just can't see how he could just allow himself not to help out with all his gifts. I just can't see how he can just up and quit like that"

It was here that George spoke up slightly against the notion that had been building. "Quit? You make it sound like he was obligated to save lives just because he had powers. Did none of you hear a word he said? Spidey has saved this city more times than anyone here can count. He's saved more lives than anyone here can count. And his reward for doing all that was death? Seriously he's died four times for us, for each and every one person in this city! Hell he's worked with the Avengers to save the world. And we dare get mad at him when he's had enough. No ladies I don't agree Spider-Man hasn't quit on us. He's retired and I for one think it is well deserved. He has used his power responsibly long enough. He's earned a rest."

After saying his piece Captain Stacy looked in the direction Peter retreated into letting his words sink in. They weren't in a world where Spider-Man quit. They were in a world where Spider-Man had retired. The following morning the announcement came. After three months of Spider-Man being missing in action the world got a clear answer from him. Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. Spider-Man had retired.

**I'm going to let this story sink in. Please let me know what you think especially after chapter two.**


	2. 5 Years later

_[I kept my original Authors note intact so you guys can know exactly how long I can hold onto my finished chapters. This is just one of nine stories I've been working on this past year. Today is my Birthday so to mark this the most holiest day of the year I will begin posting these stories. I hope you all will enjoy them. Also I'm posting all my final edited versions on Wattpad now as well as my original work. The first one is not one of the nine mentioned above but it is my own original story. Only my priority stories will be posted to Wattpad and this one happens to be one so if you prefer there follow me on there too.]_

**So**** why is this late number one it has several scenes so it's kinda big. And I'm following my whims so I'm not rushing anything at all anymore nor am I keeping to any schedule.**

**(Not that I ever did but now even less so)**

**Additionally my grandfather passed away in May of 2019 this year. Last weekend November 2-3 my family buried his elder brother and my great uncle. And now yesterday November 9 there was a car accident killing another one of my great uncles and left my uncle (as in my mom's brother and not my grandmother's brother) in critical condition. I'm told my uncle's girlfriend passed away as well as all other persons involved in the crash. He's the sole survivor. This has been a very very very trying year for me and I'm terrified what this means coming up because my grandmother is extremely dear to me and she's pretty much the last relative I have of her generation. So for all you guys that say I don't update fast enough or I'm all over the place with my writing I implore you to pause and just try to imagine a reason for it. Perhaps there's a lot more going on than what you can see. You guys have no idea of how hard it is for me to get up out of bed in the morning these days.****So to attempt to lighten the mood just a bit I need to call to you the readers attention. A bunch of you said you always wanted to read a story about a time when Spider-Man would quit. I feel I need to clarify things and call others to your attention. I literally have a story called Spider-Man I Quit. You all obviously never read it or bothered to spy my profile to see the other topics I've covered. Take a gander if you like this one. You may find others you like. Also don't read if you don't like the summary. And even if you do judge the work individually please.**

**Now here comes the clarification. This story is not repeat IS NOT about Spider-Man quitting. It is about him retiring. (See there is a keyword difference there) If you want to read one about him quiting try my story Spider-Man I quit or Age of the void (though that one has a widely different premise)**

**Now what is this story. It has Witcher influences. German folktale influences and several other sources. Now in this story I've decided not to baby you about Peter's cosmic importance (see Ben Mendelssohn for that) I tend to have to re explain this so audiences can digest what's going to happen. I won't do that with this one. You'll just have to a) figure it out yourself. B) give up and read something else or c) pm/email me directly and ask me to explain what I was going for before commenting about how trash a writer I am. Seriously that last one isn't called for. I'm seriously using fanfics as a means to practice writing a true novel as that is what I believe to be my career path aside from game design.**

**Now**** what exactly is this story? Well it's got three major themes. Number one what the fuck does Marvel New York look like after (Peter Parker) Spider-Man retires? Especially if there are major villains of his still active. Also during that time when Venom was trying to force Spider-Man to leave the hero gig to him what would that look like. This story is to answer questions like that.****The number two theme: wishes. This story is all about wishes as this very chapter **_(though it has been divided into two parts as of this posting) _**will**** make exceptionally clear. What happens if Peter could literally combat the legendary Parker luck with wishes from a very powerful cosmic force of nature? Just what would a world where Parker luck doesn't exist look like? And finally who would be this ideal Peter Parker's ideal match be? From either the DC or Marvel universe? (I'll need your help on that one as I have no girl picked out so far.) I want to show you Peter Parker's ideal world or rather one I think the character would consider ideal. And finally shove that age old saying down your throat: Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.**

**Final**** theme is that age old one: good versus evil. Dark vs light. The holy vs the unholy. I hope many of you caught the name Lucy that I dropped in the previous summary version. Yes this story is chiefly about Peter meeting who that name is attached to and the ongoing cosmic war being fought over possession of his soul. So several themes to go here guys and gals, I assume. I hope you enjoy what I present to you. I've rambled enough so here goes a mini lemon. Or whatever those are called.**

**(Insert Bad Girl by Usher)**

Getting his dick sucked by his landlady's niece was not how Peter Parker pictured waking up today. But as Peter opened his eyes today there she was Candace Muggins virtually choking herself on his cock. If it wasn't for the fact that she was smiling Peter might have gotten the vibe that she was trying to commit suicide using his dick. He had genuine concern for her safety. Or well he would have if Miranda Cooper hadn't stolen his attention. The lovely brunette Mandi commanded Peter's attention when she shoved her glorious treasures into his face ensuring he found himself lapping at her nipples. Before long she joined her red headed roommate in worshipping his cock. Then Peter heard someone clearing their throat. For a moment he feared it was his landlady.

Looking up he found it to be Barbara Modica. Looking at the blonde goddess Peter couldn't help but feel like she was the most gorgeous of the gorgeous trio. Then again Peter did have a weakness for blondes. So yeah he was probably bias. Still looking at the blonde, who was usually in a bikini around him, dressed in less finally, well Peter couldn't help but admire her a little more than the others. Bambi, who may or may not be aptly nicknamed, was a single mother with a college degree and most importantly of comparable age to Peter. The fact that she basically lived with two other women and was still raising a son gave Peter a mountain of respect for her. Add on the fact that she is a kind spirit and you could see why Peter would give her more points in the gorgeous department. Then again she was a blonde so it could just be that.

Either way the blonde came to the bed and straddled Peter's face. She began to lower her pussy for his suddenly dry and thirsty mouth to quench itself on. And just before Peter could swipe his first lick from his tongue... he promptly woke up.

His alarm clock startled him out of his favorite dream as of late.

'Every fucking time right before I can even...' Peter thought but even that was tiring so Peter just gave a mental sigh and got out of bed to start his day. I'm sure you all know a human's morning routine. So after Peter was done with that he sat down to have breakfast. Today Peter was awake and alert enough to make himself a decent meal, unlike this time last year where he would have settled for burnt toast. His meal consisted on two slices of unburnt toast with grape jelly spread on one side, grits with a single spoonful of sugar, four sausage patties, and of course scrambled eggs. Before him he also had a glass of orange juice. All in all a pretty nice breakfast.

Just as Peter was getting ready to chow down on his third sausage he heard a knock on his door. Grumbling a bit to himself Peter went to answer the ruckus. At his door was Bambi and her young son. For his part Peter tried really hard not to think about his less than stellar dream about the single mom. He succeeded enough to ask Barbara...

"Hey Bambi what's up?"

"Hey Peter sorry to bother you and whoa something smells good in here. We're you cooking breakfast?" The beautiful blonde mom asked.

"Actually I just finished eating it. Anyway what can I do you for?"

"Oh sorry I've gotta get to work like five minutes ago and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind dropping Jordan off to school on your way to work?"

She gave Peter a pleading look but he just ignored her and looked at her son Jordan. The young boy was just looking up at Peter curiously while sipping on a Caprisun juice box.

The thought of saying no never once crossed Peter's mind and he replied.

"Sure I've got no problem with it. But Jordi you okay with walking to school with me?" Peter asked the elementary school kid.

Jordi just smiled up at Peter and shaking his head before replying. "I like going to school with you. You're more fun!"

Peter grinned back at him before crouching down to his level. "Go grab your skateboard and wait for me at the back door."

After that Jordi charged off. Making Peter and his mom chuckle at his antics. Bambi stayed a moment longer as Peter finished his breakfast and grabbed his own skateboard.

"You've got to be the coolest nerd ever!" Bambi exclaimed as she watched Peter grab protective gear.

"Why cuz I know how to skateboard?"

"No because you're such a gentlemen, great with kids, funny when you want to be, have a six pack which goes to show you eat right and take care of your body, and on top of all that you're easily the smartest person I know. If I wasn't so focused on my career right now I'd be asking you to go out on a date with me right now."

"As far as I'm concerned those things are all given. Trust me most guys out there are pretty much the same as me. I'm only average Barbara." Peter said as he locked his front door.

"The fact that you genuinely believe that scores you so many bonus points with me it's insane." Barbara smiled as she kissed Peter on the cheek as they began heading downstairs to the back door. "Hey Parker Candi, Mandi, and I were going to a Halloween party tonight and I'd love for you to join us if you don't have any plans tonight? You could be our three way date for tonight."

Immediately after hearing that Peter pictured his dream again. Shaking his head to clear it Peter answered. "Sure although I'm going to have to check to make sure that my boss doesn't have any plans for me tonight."

"Is she still trying to jump your bones again?" Bambi asked.

"It's not even that anymore. I just think she thinks I'm some sort of unicorn or something."

"I mean can you blame her!? How many I.T. guys you know with a six pack?!"

"Seven." Peter responded seriously.

"Seven?"

"Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Norman Osborn, Victor Von Do-"

"Alright alright I get it. Sometimes I forget you used to be a reporter. Still those are all supers and you're a regular dude Peter Parker. You can't compare yourself to them."

'Please I've beaten them all before one on one. Oh if only you knew.' Peter thought to himself for a moment before walking out the backdoor of their apartment complex. He and Bambi were able to see Jordi dressed in his own protective gear while he was standing next to the skateboard Peter had gotten him for Christmas. The trio said there goodbyes and Peter and Jordi skated of in one direction while Barbara went to catch a cab in the opposite direction.

**(Avengers Tower)**

**[Roster: Iron Man, Captain America, King T'Challa, King Namor, Hulk, Thor, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, and She Hulk]**

"Firstly I'd like to thank Captain Dewolf and Police Chief Stacy for joining us today." Tony said as he gestured to the local police liaisons to the Avengers.

"So what's the topic for today Tony?" Captain America asked from his seat at the Avengers Tower main office.

"Same as yesterday. This explosive gang war and the power vacuum the five year absence of Spider-Man has caused."

It had been five years since Spider-Man had announced his retirement. The first year no one really noticed much. For the Avengers the local crime barring the likes of Hydra or A.I.M. was beneath their notice. Likewise for many of the individual heroes here today their lives weren't affected by Spidey's absence in the slightest at first. However after that first year things started to change. The villains that used to fear Spidey started coming out of the wood works so to speak. The first strike was when Rhino nearly killed Jennifer Walters in a skirmish between Doc Ock's gang and a Stark facility that the Avengers showed up to defend. On top of that Jennifer in her normal persona was now wheelchair bound. Giving her further reason to maintain her She-Hulk persona. Ock was able to reverse engineer Tony's mechanical Iron Man mk 4 Armor. This forced Tony to use his current nanotech based Armor as well as causing no end to the headaches the local police were enduring. And Electro was able to temporarily free the cosmic storm inside Mjolnir effectively making Thor nearly useless. To say the Sinister Six embarrassed the Avengers would be putting it mildly. Even so what the Green Goblin did to the Avengers was something they still couldn't live down. Seeing the monster kill Hank Pym still haunted many of the Avengers. Even Hulk was soundly defeated. After that day the world finally woke up to understand the horrors that Spider-Man usually dealt with. If not for Dr. Strange Hank Pym might still have been dead.

"I gotta say I know I haven't been around these past five years but what exactly does Spider-Man retiring or whatever have to do with anything?" Carol Danvers asked. She never could understand why so many heroes placed their faith in a character like Spider-Man. Still she had been mostly of world these past five years. Saying she was out of the loop would be an understatement.

"Come on now. I know you enjoyed your one time date with him." Jessica Drew smirked after saying her jab.

"Oh really?!" Natasha asked intrigued from her seat at the table.

"As much as most of us like to think we were better heroes that Spidey the blatantly obvious truth is that we're not. Sure we stop A.I.M. and Hydra and we save the world. But so has Spidey." Bruce Banner said evenly as well as with a hint of exhaustion.

While Bruce was speaking Carol muttered under her breath "Speak for yourself."

At that moment Director Nick Fury barged into the Avengers' war room. "The fact of the matter is Spider-Man has taken out more Hydra cells than the Avengers and he's stalled Modok and A.I.M. for two years on his own. And even then he was still dealing with most of the criminals we've put in the Raft during all that."

Apparently aware that Nick was coming Tony just forged on ahead with the conversation despite the interruption. "Look guys I can admit my mistake. We should have been working with Spidey 10 years ago back when we could have helped him put most of these Super criminals behind bars. Now we've got the likes of Martin Li attacking Stark buildings with mutants and suicide bombers and the Maggia infiltrating this very tower to try and steal Armor blueprints." Tony added on. You could tell from his tone of voice he was very annoyed by the various criminals' antics.

"At the very least I'm glad we we're able to prevent Fisk from becoming Mayor of this city." T'Challa said from his spot at the table. He didn't really like getting into American politics but he certainly didn't want to see New York with the Kingpin of Crime in a position where he could oversee the local police. The Black Panther was still angry about Fisk and Doom teaming up on an attempt to infiltrate Wakanda.

"We can all thank Janet for that." Jennifer Walters said from her wheelchair.

When the Avengers began seeing Spidey's rogues as legitimate threats naturally that also included Wilson Fisk. In order to prevent him from winning the election of New York Mayor Janet van Dyne had run against him. Even so she barely won and was now the Mayor of New York. Obviously this kinda prevented her relationship with the Avengers. Still she immediately appointed Captain Jean DeWolf (a known Spider-Man supporter) as a liaison between the local police and the Avengers. Janet hoped by doing this she could help get the Avengers aid in stamping out the gang war. And a small part of her hoped this might inspire Peter's return to the life. Her husband's temporary death was her reward for such thoughts.

"What about Venom and Carnage?" Namor asked from his seat as he was contemplating something.

"The other husband and wife duo? Those two are more elusive than Spidey ever was. And there are some in this room who still don't know who he is under the mask." Tony remarked.

"The pair turned our invitation to join the Avengers down. Apparently they don't trust that we'll be able to do what needs to be done when the time is right." Cap clarified.

At that Hawkeye couldn't help laughing uproariously. "I'm sorry but they do know that we were the ones that put down Silvermane right?"

"That was an accident Clint."

"Listen Cap no one is blaming you for that call. If you hadn't made that call how many more mutants and inhumans might have died." Natasha consoled while reaching a hand across the table to clasp with Steve's own.

"At the end of the day it didn't do much good. Silvio Manfredi's operation are still going."

"In my experience dealing with the Maggia everything is usually family related. What do we know about the daughter?" T'Challa asked.

"Silver Manfredi? She seems clean so far. Everything the Mayor and the FBI have on her points to her being a stereotypical mob boss daughter. No real red flags to suggest she had any dealings with the family business. Plus she's monitored constantly these days since Silver Sable and the Sable corp were hired to oversee security on the city." Captain Dewolf added.

"Silver Manfredi and Silvija Sablinova. I wonder if they're related." Hawkeye chuckled at his joke.

To be honest the current lineup of Avengers had wondered the same thing at first. Both women had literal heads of silver hair with a unique skin tone. However The pair had different parents. Anastasia Sablinova died while Silvija was still very young. As for Silver Manfredi. Well her mother Catherine died shortly after she was born too. But just from the names the Avengers could tell their parent's were different. Besides one was from New York and the other a completely different country.

**(With the X-Men)**

**[Roster: Shadow Cat, Mystique, Rogue, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Marvel (Jean Grey), Storm, Beast, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Magik, Colossus, Polaris and Luminous]**

"I say we take the fight to Li." Wolverine said pretty much at the start of this X-Men strategy meeting. The massive group had convened this current ensemble of heroes to deal with the problem presented by Mr. Negative and his ongoing gang war in New York. Using his overwhelming powers of persuasion Li had been bolstering his ranks with members from the mutant community. And as anyone knows the X-Men felt deep concern about this particular problem. Especially considering the mutants had their own nation now. However Li's actions had set back mutant-human relations by several years. Not much you can say, in defense, against video surveillance showing a 17 year old kid being melted on television by a mutant. Especially considering the person doing the melting was an X-Men member known as Magma.

"And what would that accomplish except giving him more lackeys to control." Storm argued.

"It's better than sitting around doing nothing." Logan argued back.

"Yes it's definitely a concern. Every minute we sit here is another minute a mutant is out there under the control of a mad man. But without a proper plan what can we do? Its obvious now Mr. Negative can corrupt anyone he touches. He has an army of human martyrs at his disposal and on top of that he's now got some powerful mutants on his side." Cyclops said trying to get things back on track.

"It would help if we had more Intel. What about Spider-Man? Can we contact him? Maybe he can tell us of some sort of weakness Li has. After all he dealt with him on a regular basis didn't he. Maybe he can help us." Emma Frost asked thoughtfully.

"If it's Intel you want sure I can call him. But if you want him to actually suit up and help... No dice bublina." Logan gruffed out.

"Why? Didn't he have an obligation to New York? Doesn't he claim to love the city so?" Polaris questioned.

"I'm sorry but fuck obligation." Katherine Pride couldn't help but chime in.

"Excuse me?!?" Polaris asked slightly offended.

"She's not wrong. Kid has died four different times already and come back. And he didn't have a pod to bring him back either. I'm talking mutilation here. Eyes ripped out, heart literally eaten before his eyes, not to mention falling off a skyscraper with nothing to break his fall. Kid has had enough of this life and in light of all he's done he deserves retirement." Wolverine clarified with his insider information. "Laura's gone to go visit him today See how he's holding up."

"While I agree with you Logan on the Spider-Man situation. Permit me to ask what makes him so deserving of retirement, as you say, and not yourself. Given all the years you've been alive...?" Beast asked with a smile.

"In all my years I haven't saved half as many lives as that kid. And when you become aware of what he's truly been going through. Especially knowing exactly how powerful or should I say powerless he truly is. Well you can't help but to respect the kid."

"Damn straight." Mystique added.

"Still I'd like to visit Spider-Man. I want to see his perspective on what has been going on in the city lately. I especially want to hear his take on this Venom and Carnage duo. Not to mention his thoughts on the Green Goblin."

At the mention of that the various X-Men members shuddered. The psychopath had hospitalized Magneto in their first fight. The X-Men had been summoned to deal with Martin Li only to be caught in the crossfire between him and the Green Goblin. Magneto had separated from the group in order to deal with the Goblin and his horde. The rest of the group went to help the mutants they could only for some of them to be corrupted by Li while a vast majority were butchered by the Goblin and his vaporizing bomb. Good thing their deaths were only temporary. Even so when the X-Men found Magneto he was nearly dead and despite their best healing efforts his recovery was still slow and ongoing. As much as the X-Men hated Martin Li. They were also terrified of the Green Goblin and they had no clue about how to deal with him. For this reason Jean wanted to meet with Peter. Deep down she wondered if some sort of trauma had occurred. Part of her wanted to find out why Peter Parker retired out of nowhere. But then again wasn't this just what they deserved? After all when Spider-Man needed them most they all but abandoned him. If any of his fellow heroes had bothered to help out in his early days or even see the end maybe some of these Super criminals wouldn't be around today. But regrets are in the past and can only be killed by the future. Jean wanted to make sure Peter knew that in the future the X-Men would always be there to lend a hand. That is if he even bothered to come out of retirement. And she wasn't optimistic about that prospect.

**(R.I.P. Chadwick Boseman** **and thank you for helping bring Wakanda and the Black Panther of Marvel comics to life.)**


End file.
